


And They Were Soulmates

by starhoneyy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Again, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cheating, Cute, Feelings Realization, Haechan has a lot of love to give, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Mark Lee (NCT)-centric, Mark Lee has Anger Issues, Mark is in denial, Mentioned NCT Dream Ensemble, Protective Mark Lee (NCT), Soft donghyuck, Soulmates, The cheating is not markhyuck!, curious, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starhoneyy/pseuds/starhoneyy
Summary: Soulmates can be platonic, right?
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 5
Kudos: 117





	And They Were Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

> oh my gawd they were soulmates

Everybody had a soulmate, someone they could turn to, cry to, laugh with. There was a special somebody for everybody that would fit them perfectly. Times had changed though, and soulmates didn't always have to be together. Soulmates could just be _friends_.

And that was what Mark was, happy with his soulmate, Lee Donghyuck, as friends. They didn't need to be more than that and Mark didn't want to be more than that. Besides, Donghyuck had a boyfriend and Mark wasn't gay so things were relatively straight forward. He yearned for his soulmate just as much as anyone else did though, and they met up to hang out together regularly.

They played games, hung out in the park swinging on the swings that had been half broken since they were five, or went to the cinema together whenever Mark wanted to watch the latest horror movie (Donghyuck hated horror movies but followed along despite that because Mark was his soulmate). Y'know, regular things nineteen year old boys did.

And it worked that way, for awhile atleast, before Mark started to feel weird. Weird around his _soulmate_.

Donghyuck had burst into his room one night, a snivelling, hot mess with a waterfall of rapid tears flowing over his cherubic cheeks. He had flung himself into Mark's arms crying out words that were barely comprehensible.

"It's alright," Mark soothed him, rubbing his back. "It's okay."

He let the boy wet his favourite band shirt with tears and snot until he was reduced into simple whimpers and could finally speak for himself. Mark did that because that was what soulmates do.

"J-Jeno," he hiccuped. Mark's eyebrows furrowed, and his heart hurt, like it always strangely did when Jeno, Donghyuck's, boyfriend was brought up.

"He-He broke up with me!" Donghyuck wailed, and he was back into the sobbing mess he had been twenty minutes prior. Mark felt anger prick at his skin, a bitter, sticky feeling that stabbed at his his whole being. Jeno had made Donghyuck cry. Mark _hated_ when Donghyuck cried.

"He said he had found his soulmate," Donghyuck hiccuped in between tears, gripping at Mark's shirt, straddled closely on his lap. This wasn't a new position though so Mark thought nothing of it.

Jeno was ridiculous, he thought, Mark and Donghyuck were soulmates yet they weren't together. Why would he leave Donghyuck if he loved him as much as he had claimed?

 _Bullshit_ , he thought, _it had always been complete and utter bullshit._

He kept those thoughts to himself though, not wanting to upset Donghyuck further. Donghyuck cried a bit more before he sniffled and pushed Mark back unto his bed and they laid down there together, Donghyuck’s head tucked under his chin. It was familiar, again nothing unusual, so Mark wrapped his arms around his soulmate, humming a lullaby to lull him to sleep. He had made a promise with himself to talk to Jeno that night and that same promise repeated like a mantra in his head before he eventually joined Donghyuck and dozed off.

The next day was Wednesday, and Donghyuck had woken up before him. Mark noticed the missing warmth immediately as his eyes fluttered open, and he sat up, wiping excess drool from the corner of his chapped lips. He was well rested, he always seemed to sleep that much better when Donghyuck was around.

His left palm felt the side of the bed to find that it was still warm. Eyebrows knitted together, he rubbed at the corners of his eyes with a finger to get rid of all the nitty gritty dirt that had accumulated overnight. The shower in his room wasn't running so that mean't that Donghyuck was either in the bathroom taking a whallop of a shit _or_ he was downstairs talking to Mark's parents.

The answer presented itself in the form of Donghyuck with a towel wrapped quite loosely around his waist. Mark watched as he stepped out of the bathroom, eyes raking over Donghyuck's smaller body hazily. He was lean, no muscles, but no fat either, and his waist was slim and curved. Donghyuck was using a smaller towel to dry his hair when he smiled at Mark, noticing that he was finally awake.

"I just thought I should get ready first," Donghyuck answered the question Mark wasn't even thinking of asking. Mark looked away from him suddenly feeling like the room had gotten very, _very_ hot.

"You can go ahead and hop in now," Donghyuck chirped. And if he was still sad, he didn't allow himself to show it, but Mark could tell. He could tell in the way that Donghyuck's smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

Nevertheless, Mark nodded and got up, stretching into a star shape and effectively cracking his back. He yawned and waddled over to the bathroom, making sure not to stare at his soulmate as he walked by. Donghyuck was all smiles and giggles as he bent over to 'borrow' some of Mark's clothes to wear. It wasn't weird or anything, he had always done this.

  
By evening time, Donghyuck was long gone. Mark had shooed him away instead of spending the day together like they usually did if something bad had happened, and Donghyuck agreed but not without a five minute long hug. Mark hadn't told him but he was getting ready to go to Renjun's party. He knew Jeno would be there, Jeno never passed up an opportunity to drink.

_Alcoholic piece of shit._

Mark grumbled nonsensically to himself as he glanced at his watch to tell the time. It was an old watch his grandpa had given him, a muddy brown colour with worn out leather, overall very rough around the edges, but it did its job, aesthetics be damned. Plus, Donghyuck had said he liked it.

Mark slipped on his shoes and began his speed walk to Renjun's house. The time was still relatively early for a party, but he knew people would already have flooded the place. Renjun was rich and his parties were always spectacular; they'd be the talk of the town for months until he eventually and inevitably hosted another. Thing's always went down at Renjun's parties, Renjun himself constantly attracted drama.

Mark wouldn't have been friends with him at all if Renjun hadn't saved his ass from being kicked in the third grade by offering the group of boys that had ganged up on him candy bars. The super sweet, expensive kind from Belgium, not the cheap ones they usually got from the corner store. The boys had taken Renjun up on the offer and left Mark on the floor to wallow in self-pity. Renjun had helped him up with a hand and didn't say much after that, choosing to part ways awkwardly. Their relationship had always been quite odd throughout the years, but Renjun considered him a friend so Mark did too.

Mark was brought out of his reminiscence when he smelt that familiar combination of alcohol, stupidity, and sweaty bodies all mixed in one as he stepped into the party. The mansion was huge, and as expected, there was already a mass of people gathered there. It would only get worse by the hour and Mark wanted to be out of it long before then.

Renjun spotted him through a large circle of friends and made his way over to Mark at the door, stumbling past a couple that were making out in the middle of the hallway. Renjun held a can of beer in his hand and Mark laughed to himself. He knew Renjun would never take more than a sip. It was a mystery as to why he threw these parties in the first place. Renjun wasn't much of a party animal. Perhaps he was lonely, Mark thought.

"Mark, hey!" Renjun semi-shouted over the music and Mark said a not-quite-as-loud _hey_ back.

"Have you seen Jeno?" Mark said a bit louder this time seeing that Renjun was straining his ears. "Jeno? Have you seen Jeno?"

"Oh, Jeno!" Renjun said in wild recognition then his face dropped. "No."

Mark felt like pulling out his hair.

"But there are some other people here. Jisung, Chenle, Jennie, Lisa— oh, Lisa! Lisa wanted to talk to you actually, I think she likes—"

But Mark had side-stepped him before he could even continue, leaving Renjun rambling to himself. He felt bad, he really did, but he had come there for a reason. His eyes squinted, trying to spot Jeno in the dark, purple-ish light. He had to shove past a lot of people to get around, one of which had earned him a hard shove back, but he didn't mind — Instead, he pressed on.

He found his reason at the beer pong table in the kitchen. Jeno was holding a red solo cup and dressed in ridiculously tight jeans, laughing as if his friend had said the funniest joke in the world. Mark scoffed, it couldn't be _that_ funny.

He manoeuvred his way through the crowd towards Jeno and his irritating laughter. Jeno had slung an arm around another boy with pink hair (well, it looked purple under the light, but he could still _tell_ that it was pink) and all Mark saw was white, blinding, exploding rage. He punched Jeno square in the jaw before Jeno could even catch wind of him.

"What the fuck man!" Jeno spat on the floor, putting a hand to his jaw and running his tongue over his bottom lip to feel for blood. There was none — a shame really because Mark's body was shaking with adrenaline, itching to attack yet again.

Jeno cranked his neck and slackened his jaw before looking up at Mark with icy eyes.

"Donghyuck, huh?"

That name had triggered another burst of rage in Mark and he put a fist up to swing again, but someone had caught it. Someone from his bio class that he couldn't really be arsed to remember the name of. He shook his hand from their grasp, clenching and unclenching his fists until they turned white from stinging fury.

"You _know_ what you did, and I need you to apologise to him," Mark grit with deadly venom, body buzzing with fury. Jeno merely laughed and pulled the pink haired boy closer beside him. The boy stood twiddling his thumbs, not daring to meet Mark's eyes.

" _This—_ " he turned to the boy with a small smirk, "—right here is my true soulmate." And he laughed. He actually had the audacity to fucking _laugh._ Mark restrained his laboured breathing, wounding his eyes shut almost painfully.

In through your mouth and out through your nose, he told himself. It was what his therapist told him to do whenever he felt like be was going to black out from anger. He didn't want to make a scene, not here, not in Renjun's house where it would be talked about for months to come. A crowd had already formed around them though, egging them on, thriving on the drama, action, and violence.

Perhaps Mark hadn't thought this through.

"I don't know why you're so angry anyways, I've left you with you're soulmate. I know you've been fucking behind my back this whole time anyways—"

"What? I'm not fucking g—" Mark interrupted him, his voiced coated with a mix of anger and bewilderment from the sheer absurdity of Jeno's statement.

"Gay, yeah we know, Mark."But with the sarcastic lilt to his voice, and the thinly masked bite behind his words, it was as if he knew something Mark _didn't_. They were _all_ looking at Mark like they knew something he didn't. Mark took an unconscious step back, the curious eyes of the crowd becoming too much.

"Mark!" A familiar voice bellowed through the crowd, and almost instantly, Mark's body visibly relaxed. There were loud sounds of pushing and shoving before Donghyuck emerged from the masses.

"Mark, Renjun called me. Let's get you out of here," Donghyuck latched unto Mark's arm, not paying attention to anyone else in the room. Mark wondered how he could always do that, focus solely on them even when other eyes were focused on _him_.

Jeno scoffed blatantly from where he was standing, "Of course." Donghyuck's head snapped towards the noise, and the pink haired boy had finally gathered the courage to look up.

"Jaemin?" Donghyuck reeled in disbelief. Mark's mind rattled for a second, searching for where he had heard that name before it then _clicked_. Jaemin was Donghyuck's friend, Mark remembered Donghyuck mentioning him briefly. Something to do with classes or a group project or something, Mark wasn't really paying attention, but he did remember how nice Donghyuck's legs looked in his shorts that day.

"I don't know whether I should be surprised or not," Donghyuck said snidely, crossing his arms. Jeno still wore that sly, greasy smirk and Mark wanted nothing more to wipe it— no, _punch it_ — off his goddamn face, but he knew he couldn't. Donghyuck always seemed to cry at the sight of violence. It was ironic that Mark was his soulmate really.

"Hae—" Donghyuck put a hand up to stop Jaemin. "That nickname is reserved for friends and friends _only_ ," he spat bitterly, and Jaemin lowered his gaze. Mark's heart swole with pride seeing his soulmate defend himself so well.

"I knew you'd come. Mark's in trouble and you go running after," Jeno said suddenly, all attention now shifting to him. "That's always how it was with us, even in the middle of our dates," he laughed, but it was dry and humourless. Anyone could tell there were implications behind his words.

Donghyuck frowned.

"Don't give me that look of pity. See, _I_ left _you_. I found my soulmate, so go be with yours. I don't want to be your backup anymore just because Mark keeps rejecting you."

Mark's heart began pounding in his ears. It was the truth. A salty, bitter truth that he had been running from and trying to deny. Yes, it was true that Donghyuck had liked him at first, but Mark couldn't bring himself to reciprocate. He pushed him away until one day Donghyuck had finally stopped _trying_. That was the day he was introduced to Lee Jeno. _He should've been concerned, but his body felt nothing but relief at the time and maybe (possibly) a twinge of something else._

"Quiet?" Jeno continued smugly. He wanted to provoke a reaction but instead Mark's expression seemed to have turned sad. "Whatever, you're a coward Mark Lee," he scoffed.

The crowd was silent and everyone held their breaths, a thick layer of tension weighing down on them. What would happen next?

Donghyuck tugged at Mark's sleeve, and Mark tore away as if his touch burned. Donghyuck's frown deepened and turned into a look of concern. It was too much, Mark thought with a racing mind, too much to take in.

Mark pulled away from the smaller boy, and the crowed dispersed for him to run outside, nobody saying a word nor a familiar voice to call him back. Mark kept running and running and running. He ran until he could feel bile rise and he could taste something akin to blood assimilating in his throat. His legs stopped at the town's lake, and his knees gave way, slumping unto the ground. The grass was wet but he was too tired to care.

Mark's mind was clouded with Jeno's words.

_You're a coward Mark Lee, You're a coward Mark Lee, You're a cowa—_

Mark put his hands to his ears as if that could drown out the noises inside his head. Surprisingly, it seemed to work the and the incriminating voices died down a bit. It gave him room to think. Was he really a coward? He supposed he was considering the way he ran out from the party without so much as a glance back.

Mark dipped his fingers in and stroked the water. _I am a coward._

"It's a good thing you know that, dumbass," a voice came from behind him. A body plopped down on the grass beside him, and Mark didn't dare to look sideways. He hadn't even realised that he was thinking out loud.

"Look at me, Mark Lee," the voice told him firmly, softly, invitingly.

"I can't, I'm a coward."

"Mark, I said look at me," the voice had cracked a bit and that was what ultimately made Mark whip his head around to lock eyes with a crying Donghyuck.

Donghyuck looked beautiful like that, he thought, his face illuminated under the silver beams of the moonlight. It seemed to accentuate his best features, his eyes, his nose, his hair, his _lips_.

"Hyuck," Mark moved a hand to cup his face and ran a thumb over the falling tears. Donghyuck's cries were silent, yet raw and meaningful. He tried to blink back incoming tears as Mark's dry thumb ran over his cheeks slowly. Donghyuck's watery eyes met his as his breath hitched.

Mark felt something stir within him as the world around them stilled. No movements, no noise, not even the sound of the lake water moving with the wind. And then it was sudden. Donghyuck's lips met his.

Mark's body stilled at first, and Donghyuck, ever so desperate to reciprocate the love he had only every kept on giving, cupped his face and pressed his lips to Mark's harder. Mark regained the strands of his senses and moved his lips back slowly, in sync with his Donghyuck's, as if too afraid to break him at first, or too afraid to break _himself._

His hand slipped unto Donghyuck's bare thigh, forgetting about all the things that had held him back before this, the things that had screamed at Mark that he most definitely _wasn't gay_.

Mark's tongue swiped over his lips and Donghyuck's gasped just enough for Mark to slip his tongue in. Their tongues twirled and danced, Donghyuck's tasting like vanilla and tears and Mark like fresh, green mint. An odd combination but sweet nonetheless.

Donghyuck eyes were glossed over as he was breathed in uncontrolled huffs and puffs. Mark's hand stayed where it was and Donghyuck noticed it. He also noticed how Mark's eyes were still trained on his swollen lips.

"I thought you weren't gay?" Donghyuck questioned him with a whispered breath, half in amusement and half amazed that he had finally made the first move.

"I don't know," Mark mumbled lowly, eyes glazing over, "but I like you."

And that was that. He didn't need to think about it further, he didn't need to accept it, just right then, in that very moment, all his body needed— all his body _craved_ was Donghyuck's lips on his. And so Mark, ever so obedient, complied to his own selfish wishes and pulled Donghyuck in for another kiss.

Donghyuck's body buzzed with unmatched excitement as their lips brushed and hands moved to touch each other in the dark.

The love of his life had liked him back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)
> 
> [twt](https://mobile.twitter.com/starhoneyy)  
> [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/starhoneyyy)


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